Poetry and the Masses

[Leanne]

Who are some living poets that come as close to being interesting and good as all these dead people? Billy Collins isn't dead but he might as well be.

I know the Australian poets best. I love John Kinsella and Les Murray -- both have very strong foundations in the classics and mechanics of poetry but go off in their own directions. I also adored Dorothy Porter, but she died a few years ago -- she was only in her 50s so I'm going to count her. Over in Britain, I do quite like Carol Ann Duffy and Gillian Clarke. There is an English poet called Matthew Caley who was quite active a few years back but I haven't seen much from him recently. In the US -- well, I don't know. Sadly, those who are being published in the larger presses are all a bit crap in my opinion, very generic, still stuck in the confessional that the rest of the world vacated 25 years ago or more. Most of those I'm familiar with are performance poets like Taylor Mali and of course the great Henry Rollins -- but their stuff doesn't really hold up as well on a page.